Now when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold! A severe storm arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves; but he himself was sleeping. Then they went and woke him by saying, “Lord! Save us! We are perishing!” So he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” After he got up, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became absolutely calm. Then the men were astonished, saying, “What kind of a man is this One, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” [Matthew 8:23-27]
We need to know how to stick out and survive these kinds of storms. Where to go for safety, what to get from the store, how to survive with no electric, no water, or what to do if we get hurt. There is always a lot of preparation. But what about the storms of this life? Serious illness. disease. accidents. tragedies, unemployment, lost retirement savings, death, loneliness, hardships, or all types of personal problems, and there are many more, just to mention a few. How do you weather the storms of life? We can see in the scriptures from Jesus our Lord and His twelve disciples how we can learn to weather the storms of life through prayer and faith.
A good number of Jesus’ disciples had been fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. They knew by experience that the Sea of Galilee was famous for its sudden storms. The storms suddenly, without warning, would sweep down over the water from the higher elevations of the nearby mountains and cliffs. The storm this time was remarkably furious. The high winds whipped up the sea into violent waves. The waves came over the side of the disciples’ boat, dumping huge amounts of water into the boat, almost swamping the boat, and throwing the disciples into the sea. The disciples were frightened and frantic.
While all this was happening Jesus was sleeping calmly in the back of the boat. A person might wonder how he could sleep so peacefully through such a storm while his disciples were so frightened. Here we see the faith of the man called Jesus. He got tired, in the flesh, and needed sleep, just like we do. He slept so calmly because he knew his heavenly Father was with him and watching over him. He just put himself into His Father’s hands, undaunted of whatever storm of life might sweep over him. If only we could remained so calm and trusting in our heavenly Father’s loving care through our storms of life.
Just like the disciples we can learn to turn to Jesus in our storms of life. What troubles or hardships or dangers have come upon us? How are we weathering them? Are they pleasant? Easy to cope with? No! When the storms of life are crashing down around our ears, they could be sorrowful, dreadful and agonizing. What do we do then to batten down the hatches? To bail out our sinking boat? To fight off the wind and the waves of the adversity, hardship, and dangers? We need to do what the disciples did called on the name of the Lord; “Lord, save us from the storm. We are about to perish!”
Just like Jesus was with his disciples in the storms in their life, he is also, with us in our storms of life. He does not forsake us or leave us, to struggle in the storm alone. He is with us and He hear our calls for His help. He is always there to answer our prayers and our calls, in the midst of our troubles. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”” [Psalm 50:15] In the our storms of our life we must rely on Jesus, our Lord, to help us get through them.
This reliance must come from our faith in Him. Jesus will rebuke the storms in our life just like He did for His disciples. Just like them we had nothing to fear. Jesus was with them. He would not allow them to perish. Because of our Lord we can have no fear about the storms of this life. His almighty, powerful word is more than enough for calming any storm in our life. His word was commanding and authoritative. Jesus’ word was able to do what he said and commanded. The One who, during the six days of creation, said, “Let there be,” and it was done, commanded the wind and waves he had created to be still and they were still.
How is our faith during the storms in our life? In the face of hardships and troubles and dangers is our faith strong and as solid as a rock? Or, is our faith no better than the faith of the disciples was in that boat? Would Jesus rebuke us also for our little faith?” Would he say to us, “O you of little faith, why are you so afraid?” How confident are we when we must undergo surgery? How strong are we when we have lost our job, have no income, and bills are piling up on us? How sturdy are we when the one we love so much is dying and change and loneliness are intimidating us? Do we have that kind of faith that will see us through the storm?
What can give us a faith that is positive, sure, strong, firm with no doubt, in our Lord’s word? We must believe that His word is authoritative, reliable, dependable, and trustworthy. His word accomplishes what he commands and promises. He can say the word and still our storm of life. He can deliver us from danger with the power of His word. On that solid Rock we, as His follows, must stand!
Jesus has delivered His people (born again believers that are cover by the Blood) from the most vicious storm that could threaten us, death and hell. We know that He will deliver us from the minor storms of life that come upon us. Whatever the storm of life may be We must remember that Jesus is the Master of the sea.
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